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Globe and Mail Update — Auditor-General Sheila Fraser took aim Tuesday at the lax security screening of private-sector companies working on top-secret federal contracts, while the Commissioner of the Environment slammed Ottawa for ignoring the environmental impact of its own actions.
Ms. Fraser said government officials were wrong to launch major defence projects before contractors received the appropriate clearance.
"We found serious problems in the system that is supposed to ensure the security of government information and assets entrusted to industry," the Auditor-General told reporters. "Failing to protect sensitive information in contracting can pose serious risks to the national interest."
Ms. Fraser said that while the Canada Border Services Agency is investing in technology to improve the screening of goods and people entering Canada, border officers continue to rely on their instincts to select which shipments need to be searched.
Canada's Auditor-General Sheila Fraser.
Highlights of Auditor General Sheila Fraser’s latest report to Parliament, released Tuesday:
• Canada’s borders are too porous because of lax procedures at the Canada Border Services Agency for screening dangerous people and goods.
• Too much secret government information allowed to leak out to private contractors who do not have proper security clearance.
• Military fails to properly check medical credentials of the health professionals who treat its soldiers, suggesting some may not even be licensed.
• Twenty-three years after signing a massive native-claims agreement in the Western Arctic, Ottawa still has not lived up to its obligations to provide land and other benefits.
• Tight budgets at Statistics Canada likely led to incomplete population counts in some communities and districts.
• So-called “sustainable development” environmental strategies in effect government-wide since 1995 prove to be little more than paper commitments.
(REUTERS/Chris Wattie)
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She added that often, the criteria to look more closely at containers are not whether they pose a higher risk than others, but rather if staff is in place to do the work.
In joint reports tabled in the House of Commons, Ms. Fraser and Ron Thompson applauded the government for its good management of the 2006 census and for following up on petitions sent in by ordinary Canadians to improve their environment.
But the two auditors were also highly critical of Ottawa's ineffectiveness in abiding by a 1984 land-claims treaty with the Inuvialuit and in managing the health benefits of military personnel.
Ms. Fraser also looked at the way that the department of National Defence offers health services to military personnel. The cost per person comes in at $8,600 a year, which is much higher than the average cost of $4,500 per Canadian, even though military officials are usually fit.
Ms. Fraser said DND doesn't have enough information to explain the discrepancy, and needs to improve its oversight of the health services.
On the Inuvialuit Final Agreement, Ms. Fraser found that 23 years after its signature, Ottawa continues to ignore a large number of pledges it made to the Inuit, such as ensuring they benefit economically from government contracts in the region.
Mr. Thompson, the interim environment commissioner, simultaneously released a hard-hitting report on the government's sustainable development strategy.
Created by law in 1995 to ensure federal departments consider how their actions might have an impact on climate change or other environmental issues, the commissioner's office has long complained that departments aren't taking the reports seriously.
Checking in again earlier this year, the commissioner found the problem has still not been addressed.
"We can find few, if any, evidence that sustainable development strategies are serving the purpose for which they were introduced," states the commissioner's report, which describes the federal plans as a "major disappointment."
"Departments may be meeting the letter of the law with their strategies but most are certainly not responding to the spirit of it."
The commissioner had more positive things to say about the government's response to environmental petitions, noting that almost half of Canadian petitioners felt they had made at least somewhat of an impact. However the positive responses are on the decline.
In 2004, some 24 per cent of petition responses from Ottawa did not answer the questions posed, or answered only partially. By 2006, this figure was 41 per cent.
The report, tabled in the House of Commons Tuesday, is divided into seven chapters:
- An audit into how the federal government ensures the security of sensitive information and assets made available to industry in the course of contracting. The audit also looked at how the three federal organizations with the highest numbers of contracts — Public Works and Government Services Canada, National Defence, and the RCMP — carry out their responsibilities for security in contracting.
- The first of a series of planned audits of management and control practices in small federal organizations. The audit included the Canada Industrial Relations Board, the Canadian Forces Grievance Board, and the Courts Administration Service. It looked at the controls in the use of acquisition cards, contracting, executive travel, hospitality, executive compensation, and selected areas of human resources management.
- An audit of the 1984 Inuvialuit final agreement, which transferred about 91,000 square kilometres of land to the Inuit of the western Arctic, along with a total payment of just under $170-million.
- An audit of the provision of health care to members of the Canadian Forces, including how the Department of National Defence determines if its members have consistent access to timely, quality physical and mental health care.
- Canada Border Services: An audit of the federal agency's approach to border management, including how it identifies and intercepts people and goods, and how it facilitates the free-flow of low-risk people and goods into Canada.
- Management of the 2006 census by Statistics Canada, including quality assurance systems
- An audit of technical training at three key branches of the Canada Revenue Agency: compliance programs, appeals, and legislative policy and regulatory affairs
